DPR for Bedti-Hirevaddatti interlinking project will follow environmental requirements: Union Minister

A file photo of the Bedti river in Uttara Kannada district

Union Minister for Jal Shakti C.R. Patil has written to Uttara Kannada Member of Parliament Vishveshwara Hegde Kageri, assuring him that the Detailed Project Report (DPR) for the proposed Bedti-Hirevaddatti (Modified Bedti-Varada) Interlinking Project will be taken forward in accordance with statutory, environmental, forest, wildlife and legal requirements.

In response to Mr. Kageri’s letter to the Union Minister seeking his intervention to discontinue the preparation of the DPR of the proposed project and to keep all further activities in abeyance, Mr. Patil said that the planning, development and management of water resources projects are undertaken by the respective State governments, based on their administrative priorities and resource considerations.

“The role of the Union government is to extend technical guidance and support wherever required, in accordance with established procedures and upon receipt of proposals from the concerned State government,” Mr. Patil’s letter stated.

In the context of this proposed interlinking project, he said that the National Water Development Agency (NWDA) has taken up the preparation of the DPR at the request of the Karnataka government’s Water Resources Department, and a Memorandum of Understanding was executed on December 23, 2025, for this purpose.

“It has further been clarified that the preparation of the DPR by the NWDA is an investigative and planning exercise and does not constitute the physical execution or final implementation of the project,” he said.

He added that the NWDA has further indicated that during the DPR preparation, all relevant technical, environmental and socio-economic aspects — including downstream river ecology, environmental flows, agriculture, fisheries, groundwater recharge and the requirements of communities dependent on the Bedti catchment — would be duly examined.

“The identification of the command area and beneficiaries, and assessment of actual water requirements for irrigation, drinking and industrial purposes, particularly in the drought-prone districts of Gadag and Haveri, will also be undertaken in consultation with the Government of Karnataka,” he said.

He further assured that the project would be taken forward in accordance with all applicable statutory, environmental, forest, wildlife and legal requirements, duly ensuring compliance with the prescribed provisions at the appropriate stages.